I know you love to fall
by Bookishfoxx
Summary: During another typical night in the Snoring Dragon Inn, Gwizdo struggles with his feelings towards his life, himself and love he was too afraid to admit to. Thinking it's for the best, he decides to take a fall. Inspired by Message to Bears' song of the same title & the scenes of Gwizdo during his seperation from his friends in the animated movie. (Rated T for attempted suicide)


The Snoring Dragon Inn was lively that evening. The sounds of drunken laughter and jolly conversation echoed off into the night through the tavern's open windows. Jennyline was busy tending to the patrons while Lian-Chu and Hector sat upstairs with Zaza, trying to get the little girl to finally go to sleep. While still broke most of the time, the Dragon Hunters agreed that for the most part life was good. They had a roof over their head, food and an annoying but lovable landlady.

However there came times where things would weight down on them, and such a time had come for Gwizdo. While the rest of the team stayed inside the tavern in the light and warmth, the short man sat on a rock outside the inn with his legs hanging over their island's edge. He was thinking about a certain rebellious girl that had travelled with them to the End of the World.

Ten years had passed since then and a lot had changed. Despite being scared out of his wits at the time, he missed those days. Life was simpler. Tomorrow was his birthday. Thirty. The promise of a decade of loneliness. Gwizdo never cared much for people, at least, not outwardly. He was brash, mean and cowardly and most folks disliked him. Those were some of the reasons, he reckoned, why he only had Lian-Chu and Hector as friends, and why Jennyline kind of tolerated him. He wasn't handsome nor rich and spoke his mind too often which annoyed potential women who sometimes stumbled into the inn by accident. Not counting the incident with Mina, who turned out to be a gold digging manipulator.

The only girl who didn't immediately stalk off offended was Zoe, their unlikely young companion. And she was honest most of the time, sometimes painfully so. She saw straight through his lies and while did not approve of them, didn't condemn him either. She was quite a trickster herself too, something she likely picked up from him during their travels. Gwizdo would never forget that stunt she pulled about not feeling her legs and her dying wish to them. Little imp, he thought with a chuckle. When she suddenly sprung right back up and threw her arms at him he was speechless with sheer disbelief. Then she made the bold claim that he had feelings for her.

The short man blushed at the memory. She was just a silly kid back then, but there may have been a kernel of truth to that, though he would NEVER admit it. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction. That and he didn't want to pass off as an even bigger creep. Nowadays he figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but Zoe had changed very much. She wasn't that inexperienced but courageous kid anymore.

For starters she wasn't called Zoe nowadays but Zoria. Thanks to Lian-Chu's training she had grown up to be a skilled dragon huntress and was now flying solo, looking for contracts here there and everywhere. Because of her prowess in the art, Gwizdo and Lian-Chu actually had to look at her as not just their charming friend but real competition in the dragon hunting market. Gwizdo was angry at that sometimes, he could not help but be jealous of her success. In the rare times she did visit them and her adoptive mother, she and Gwizdo would often end up arguing right until she got off the island again. As the years passed her visits were becoming less frequent and Gwizdo couldn't help but wonder if he was the cause of this.

He picked up a pebble from the ground next to him and threw it down into the abyss below. He wondered how long he would fall if he were to suddenly slip or perhaps purposefully throw himself out into the ether. Would anybody catch him? The guys were busy babysitting Zaza and Jennyline was working at the counter. He could just fall and that would be it.

He had similar thoughts before, during their trip to the End of the World. It was after he left Lian-Chu and ended up sitting alone on a floating rock while the world fell apart and crumbled around him. He could have jumped then, but his cowardly nature held him back. He sighed loudly into the chilly night. The sounds of a cheerful tavern still echoed through the night, muffling out the sound he made. Maybe this was the answer. Just let yourself go and fall like those stars that Lian-Chu always liked to watch on winter nights. Drift in the endless void like a lonely planet, before colliding with the hard ground and succumbing to your own mortality.

Gwizdo got up slowly and stared down at the emptiness stretching below him. Clouds moved and the abyss below seemed to beckon him to come closer. Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward. A cold gust of air tickled his face. Then he felt himself falling. For a moment he felt weightless, yet suddenly his collar caught on something and with a painful yank he felt his weight being dragged back up. "Next time you see somebody falling Lian-Chu, let them!" He spat expecting to come face to face with the gentle giant. However when he was put on the cold solid ground once more it was not Lian-Chu standing there, but Zoria. Zoe.

She stood tall and slender, her green armour glinting faintly in the moonlight, leaning against her sword as if she needed it to support her. Her once beautiful blonde locks, now dyed a scarlet red to better fit her new independent persona. Her big eyes stared at him in what looked like relief and shock and something he couldn't quite place before being replaced by familiar anger.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" she asked, her voice shaking with rage.

"Zoe, I can explain."

"You could have died. What where you thinking? Did you think at all? What about Lian-Chu? Did you not think what your death would do to him? You're his only friend. He needs you. What about Hector, Mum, Zaza?" He thought he saw a tear glistening in her eyes. "What about me?" she added quietly, just loud enough for him to hear.

"Zoe.." he said quietly, reaching out to touch her shoulder. She gently grasped his hand, before realising he still hadn't explained. Letting go of his hand, she grabbed him by his collar and lifted him up so he would face her, his feet dangling just a few inches above ground.

"Say it. How could you do that?"

"Couldn't ya just put me down first?" he squirmed in her grasp.

"You're avoiding the question. And don't Zoe me, I'm not a little kid anymore. Answer me. NOW."

"Fine. I'll tell ya. I'm tired of this! I'm tired of fighting. I'm sick of waking up every day and feeling like an unwanted loser. I'm broke and living in a darned inn, only on the account of your mother's good will. I'm not talented like Lian-Chu and if it wasn't for him, ten dragons would have eaten me by now. I'm not even a proper dragon hunter. He does everything. I just do the paperwork. I always end up mucking things up. My clients don't want me. Women don't want me. Even my parents didn't want me. I bet you, a hundred bits, that they probably took one look at me and thought _Yuck, that's OUR son_? I wasn't good enough for them. I'm never good enough for anybody. Without Lian-Chu, I'm nothing. And I wouldn't be surprised if one day, he gets sick of me too and leaves. Just like everybody else."

Zoria gently lowered him to the ground and let go of his collar.

"I wanted to do this before, you know. Remember the End of the World? I left Lian-Chu, Hector and you. I walked on until I had no where else to go. There was a storm. I sat on a rock and just floated. I thought that if I just let myself fall, all my problems would be gone, along with the world. Everything would just crumble and fade away like a bad dream. But...I couldn't do it. I couldn't even bring myself to take that one step. I'm a coward Zoe." He said quietly, without meeting her eyes.

She didn't correct him this time. She took a step closer, he thought she was going to hit him. Instead Zoe wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. He felt himself shiver before reluctantly returning her embrace. Resting his head in the crook of her shoulder, he continued speaking.

"I feel alone Zoe. The world didn't end, but I think I was never even a proper part of it in the first place. Yeah, we lived to see another day. And you came back with us, which was great. But then you left as well. I don't blame ya. You've got your own life, I understand. Lian-Chu's still here, but I feel as if he's also grown more distant, or maybe that's just me being paranoid again. It's not just my life that I'm making into a misery. Y'all have so much trouble because of me. I think it'd really be best if I just disappeared."

"Never say that."

Gwizdo looked at her with a cocky smile and chuckled, but inside he wasn't laughing. "Why? You suddenly care again and will visit us more than once, maybe twice a year? Jennyline's missing you, and you haven't been keeping in touch with her."

"I try to as best as I can. Unlike you guys, I'm actually really busy. I barely have time to stretch my legs before another messenger is bringing me word of a dragon needing to be slain. I come as often as I can, but whenever I do you go all funny Gwizdo. You never seem actually happy to see me. You get all grumpy and irritated whenever I'm around and if I didn't know you, I'd probably think you hate me."

"I don't hate you. I never hated you. Even when you were annoying the devil out of me. See, that's another reason why you should have let me fall. I destroy everything even…especially when I don't mean to"

He untangled himself from her and stepped back. He walked slowly towards the edge. Once he was standing a step away from the edge he turned to her.

She stood silently, like a great marble statue, her tear eyed face the only sign of her being alive. In that moment Zoria seemed small and lost, and for a moment he felt as if he was once more looking at a lost, naïve little girl, who believed in the goodness of the world too much, only to see it was all a lie.

Despite what he told himself, he hated seeing her cry. He thought, telling her the truth wouldn't hurt now, maybe she'd even laugh. He'd like that, she had such a sweet laugh. Since he was going to die anyway, he had nothing to lose. Building up his courage he smiled at her.

"I never told you before, but now it doesn't matter anymore. Prepare yourself, gather around ladies and gentleman for Gwizdo's final story!" He waved his arms around and pretended to bow to an invisible crowd. "I, Gwizdo, the world's most hopeless dragon hunter have a confession to make." Settling his gaze on Zoria he spoke." Zoe, or Zoria, as you now wish to be called, you'll be happy to know that you were right about me. You were always right. From the very beginning"

Watching her eyes widen, he smiled wider, before continuing." I love you Zoe. I always loved you. Ever since I met you. I tried to hide it yet you saw right through me. You even had the guts to confront me about it. Obviously, I declined and played it off like a joke. But the truth is, that you were right all along."

Zoria looked at him in silence. He grew irritated. "Oh go on, girl! Laugh at me! Express how disgusted you feel by the fact that this dirty old geezer just told you he had feelings for you, ever since he first laid eyes on you. Laugh at me! Do it!"

The young woman said nothing. She stormed towards him with purpose and he thought that this time, he'd get beaten up for sure. Maybe she'd even throw him off the edge, give him a head start.

Yet when Zoria grabbed him by the collar and pulled him to her away from the edge, his face didn't connect with her fist. Instead he felt a soft pair of lips pressing against his own and the girl's free hand reaching forward to cup his cheek. She kissed him so sweetly, so tenderly that he felt himself sailing away, losing himself in the warmth of her touch and the softness of her lips. This was outrageous. He was dead. He was sure of it. He must have slipped and didn't even notice the fall. This wasn't real, as much as he wanted to believe it was.

Darn it, he had nothing to lose. He wrapped his own arms around Zaria's waist and returned her kiss with all the need, love and longing he suppressed all these years. He could feel her heart beating wildly against his own, and as she parted her lips he hesitantly deepened the kiss. A small sound escaped her mouth and for a moment he thought he ruined it, but the girl pulled him even deeper into her arms and in a moment he felt himself falling. Only not into the void below, but on Zoria. With a thud. On the ground. It hurt. She looked at him though her dark eyelashes and if not for the fact that his knee collided with a rock on the way and he was in agony, he would still be thinking that he was indeed in heaven. He quickly scrambled off her and held onto his injured knee. Dazed Zoria also got her bearings back and quickly picked him up.

"It huuurts! And…that really happened." He said slowly.

"Yes. It did. And no, before you ask, I don't regret it. I love you too Gwizdo. I actually had a crush on you as a kid."

He looked deeply into her beautiful eyes. She was serious.  
"I wanted to tell you that, once I got a bit older, but you always seemed so angry at me, I was a bit afraid you'd laugh too. Turns out we're both idiots." She laughed and he felt the world slowly fall into place. It didn't solve all his problems, but he thought it was a start.

"We need to get you to Mum. She'll fix your knee. But don't think I'm going to let you get away with this stunt you've pulled today. We're going to have a serious talk once the most pressing matters are out of the way. All of us, Together. Like a family." She pressed a kiss to his forehead and with Gwizdo in her arms, started walking back towards the inn.


End file.
